Reviews
-
Film Review: ‘Robin Hood’
★★☆☆☆ Has there been a better time in recent memory to return to the age-old English legend of a poor man willing to stand up to a nation’s greedy oppressors? Unfortunately, Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood (2010) manages to miss a ripe opportunity to explore this pertinent element of the famous tale in favour of what is essentially…
-
DVD Releases: ‘No Country for Old Men’
After more than twenty years of producing highly intelligent, absurd, dark and hilarious independent movies, Joel and Ethan Coen finally struck Academy gold with their adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s bestseller No Country for Old Men (2007). The brothers’ only previous Oscar wins had been for Fargo (1995), which took home the awards for Original Screenplay…
-
DVD Releases: ‘The Road’
The struggle of any cinematic literary adaptation is the very transition from one medium to another. Novels are by their very nature prosaic, episodic and often rely heavily on narration to communicate both the plot and the emotive content within. McCarthy’s novel The Road follows two survivors of an unknown apocalyptic disaster (simply referred to as ‘The Man’ and ‘The…
-
Film Review: ‘Dogtooth’
★★★★☆ Yorgos Lanthimos’ Dogtooth (2009) is an unsettling examination of how easily the desire to control others can lead to tyranny. The film follows three teenagers confined with their parents in an isolated Greek country house. Surrounded by high fences on all sides and in possession of a carefully manicured lawn and swimming pool, their lodgings give a whole new…
-
Film Review: ‘Four Lions’
★★★★★ It was almost inevitable that the cinematic debut from actor, writer and director Chris Morris would attract an inordinate amount of controversy and media attention. For those uninitiated in the work of British comedy’s enfant terrible, Morris kick-started his career on Armando Iannucci’s BBC Radio 4 news-spoof On the Hour as a veracious, ‘Paxman-esque’…
-
DVD Review: ‘Three Monkeys’
★★★★★ Nuri Bilge Ceylan has established himself as one of the most innovative directors working in film today, with the Turkish director – initially a photographer before switching to filmmaking in the mid-1990s – already distinguished by a BFI retrospective. Comparisons with Antonioni, Fassbinder and Tarkovsky are well founded, though Ceylan has an entrancing style…
-
DVD Releases: ‘Where the Wild Things Are’
Director Spike Jonze’s long awaited adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s much-loved children’s book Where the Wild Things Are (2009) is arguably not a film for children, but rather a film about childhood; full of grand imaginings, exploration and discovery, whilst also encompassing feelings of regret, sadness and anger. Those looking for a fun diversion for their offspring may do…
-
Theatrical Releases: ‘Iron Man 2’
US multi-billionaire Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) superhero ‘alter ego’ was revealed to the world at the end of Iron Man (2008), and John Favreau’s follow up Iron Man 2 picks up where we left off, with Stark attempting to market his new Iron Man ‘brand’. However (as all superhero’s must learn) with power – be it physical or financial – comes ‘great responsibility’. The United States military…
-
Film Review: ‘Centurion’
★★★☆☆ Starring Michael Fassbender and Olga Kurylenko follows a band of grizzled, war-weary Roman soldiers stationed in Britain during the year 117 AD. After an ill-fated marsh across the border into Caledonia (modern-day Scotland), they become separated from the legendary ‘Ninth Legion’ and find themselves stranded deep behind enemy lines. Directed by British director Neil Marshall, (The Descent [2005])…
-
Udine Far East Film Festival 2010: CUEAFS Hong Kong Cinema Panel
Film making is undeniably as much of a political and financial venture as it is an expressive art form. In outlets such as the Udine Far East Film Festival, films are not only selected and categorized by cinematic genres but act as representations of the changing culture within their country of origin.The conflict between cinematic content…